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Six Honored with 2024 Minor League Awards

It’s awards season, as the Washington Nationals honored six players in its 2024 Minor League Awards:

  • Hitter – OF Dylan Crews
  • Pitcher – RHP Travis Sykora
  • Defensive Player – OF Elijah Green
  • Baserunner – UT Darren Baker
  • “Nationals Way” – OF Daylen Lile and RHP Brad Lord

Maybe you might want to quibble that Green should have won both the defensive and baserunning awards, but even Stevie Wonder can see that the point here is to spread around some good feelings around keeping some valuations inflated.

Travis Sykora getting his due is certainly commendable, but a case could be made for Brad Lord for his three-level season, which is no doubt why he was named for the Coaches Favorite Nationals Way award, which I’m kind of surprised didn’t go to Baker, given the Nats’ fetish with legacy picks or that he’s exactly the kind of player the Nats like to have (see: Lipscomb, Trey; Alu, Jake; Noll, Jake; Sanchez, Adrian; Difo, Wilmer; Kobernus, Jeff; Walters, Zach).

21 Commments

  1. I’m going to keep protesting every year that “Nationals Way” should be renamed the Aaron Barrett Award. Makes a hell of a lot more sense than it ever did being known as the Bob Boone Award.

  2. There were two players in the Nats’ system who stood head and shoulders about the others in 2024 (both figuratively and literally): Sykora and Wood. No one else was within 200 OPS points of Wood. Crews had a decent season but registered an OPS lower than Glasser. I’m not lobbying that Glasser should have won the award, more so that Crews’s season wasn’t that spectacular.

    It’s hard to say that there were any real snubs. Glasser and Lara are the others who come to mind with really notable seasons. Lara will get his attaboy next month when he’s added to the 40-man roster, which will get him to the big league camp next spring.

    2. Maybe some of the pitchers going to AFL for extra work and maybe pick up an extra pitch to incorporate into their pitch kit ??

  3. Glad to see Greene progressing in his career. If he continues to cut down his Ks he could win other awards in 2025 and maybe a 26-man roster spot in 2026.

    1. Patience, Grasshopper. I’m rooting for Green to fulfill his vast potential, but if he does, it likely won’t be that quickly. He just struck out 44% of the time, which is a staggering number, all the more at a level he was repeating. He has four exemplary tools, but he’s got to figure out contact. The fact that the organization gave him an award seems to indicate that they see him as a hard worker, though.

      1. Green might be a hard worker and excellent athlete, but as KW points out, his 44% rate is “staggering” while repeating a level!!!!! If he reaches MLB, he might settle into a 4th or 5th outfielder, unless he makes a remarkable transition as a hitter.

  4. lol yes Glasser should win an award “ Getting out of Grand Canyon in grand style “ !
    Yes org awards are for the big picture not the : those that remain on the farm .
    Fits the same psychology as : in the top 30 list cause of signing bonus amount .

  5. I’m surprised Crews was named HOTY. But then again it’s pretty damning that there isn’t anyone better than Crews’ good, but unexceptional line of .270/.342/.451. This is the top 11 in OPS
    1. Wood 1.058
    2. Adams .912 (huge gap)
    3. Tejeda
    4. Millas
    5. Taveras
    6. Feliz
    7. Blankenhorn
    8. Glasser
    9. Yepez
    10. Meneses
    11. Crews

    Since finishing the season in the majors isn’t disqualifying, I’d have given it to Wood, because he was just so much better than anyone else. The .146 points of OPS separating him from Adams at #2 is the about the same amount as the .151 points between Adams and Nate Rombach’s .759 OPS in 15th place! Wood was just so, so much better than anyone else in the farm system, that he deserved the HOTY award, even if he only played 74 games, which isn’t that much less than Crews’ 100 games played.

    But if you actually need a nearly full season of play, then Glasser is statistically the best, and is especially the best because he was playing some many of his games in cavernous pitcher friendly parks. For example, Crews’ .795 OPS in Rochester was only barely above average (106 wRC+), while Glasser’s .837 OPS in Wilmington was significantly above league average at 142 wRC+.

    Oh well, it’s not really a big deal. The other picks were more or less on point. But I wish they made an award specifically for relievers, to give them some recognition too.

    1. Good thought on the reliever award, it they’re going to keep adding awards. Although as we’ve observed, the organization seems to perpetually under-value relievers.

      I was only looking at up-and-coming players, and from full-season teams. The youngsters will get their turn/time.

      All of what you lay out here is part of why it’s going to be really hard to choose the top 10 hitters. There are several who still look like decent “prospects,” but it’s concerning when they can’t even top .800 OPS.

    2. Millas is fourth! Nationals brass don’t seem to be aware as he continues to sit on an MLB bench while….. (fill in the blank)

  6. Another small tidibit of info: Brad Lord was also named to the Eastern League “All Star” Team, though it’s more accurately the Team of the Year. He was named #3 SP, after uber prospects Brandon Sproat and Jackson Jobe: https://www.mlb.com/milb/news/minor-league-baseball-double-a-all-stars-and-award-winners-2024?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage . Well deserved!

    Unrelated, but if Lord doesn’t pan out as a starting pitcher, and gets moved to the bullpen as a closer, does he stand a chance to be Washington’s Lord and saver?

    Sorry… I’ll see myself out.

    1. Lord’s numbers at AA were those of an “uber prospect”: 1.40 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 6.8 H9.

      Will Lord be the next in the line of unheralded arms who actually make it? I guess the jury is still out on whether Parker, Irvin, and Herz can be good enough for a team that hopes to contend, but considering the teams that are struggling to have any healthy arms, plus the string of injuries (Cavalli, Henry, Denaburg), failures (Romero), and mediocrity (Rutledge) of higher-profile guys in our system, there’s much to appreciate in what they’ve done.

    3. Drum down beat after that Lord and saver
      Perhaps we should do a quick straw poll vote on here for a catagory
      RSOY. Real surprise of year .
      Dashyll Tejada ???
      Or FRED winning the CL crown ?

  7. Baker’s real award is getting the call-up. his prospect status is questionable but the fact that he was in the show is indisputable.

    1. There’s a forever aura about having been a “major leaguer,” no matter how limited. I was around a guy one time, a former utility infielder, with people hanging on his every word. His career WAR was -6.9, OPS .560. For frame of reference, Adrian Sanchez’s OPS was .615. But they’re always “major leaguers.”

    2. Unfortunately, not everyone has Baker’s focus, devotion, and determination! Impressive character traits.

  8. Nats prospects going to the Arizona Fall League:
    OF Robert Hassell III
    3B Cayden Wallace
    C Maxwell Romero Jr.
    LHP Matt Cronin
    RHP Michael Cuevas
    LHP Dustin Saenz
    RHP Chase Solesky

    1. Interesting. I thought Morales was a shoo in. Instead, Hassell get his 3rd straight AFL appearance (this has to be a record?!)

      Also interesting to see the number of players drop back down to 7. There was a weird trend over the past few seasons to send sometimes as many as 10 players from each team, leading to massively bloated rosters. Hopefully this will ensure all 7 players get a fair shake.

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